Gore: 'There's no Such Thing as Ethical Oil'

Former Vice President Al Gore showed a marked distaste for oil in a public interview with The Toronto Globe and Mail's editor-in-chief, John Stackhouse Tuesday.

President Barack Obama should cancel the Keystone XL pipeline meant to transport heavy crude from the Alberta oil sands to U.S. refineries, Gore said, according to the paper.

Gore is concerned about the greenhouse gas produced by oil-sands crude. He said the social and environmental cost of developing the oil sands makes it more expensive than developing renewable energy in the United States instead.

Stackhouse then asked whether Alberta oil was more ethical because it came from democracy committed to human rights.

Gore would have none of it. "There's no such thing as ethical oil," he said, according to The Globe and Mail. "There's only dirty oil and dirtier oil."

As for climate change, while avoiding criticism of Obama's policy, Gore said, "I still hold out hope that he will be as positively surprising in his policy initiatives this year as he was in his speeches."